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Excessive sweating which is also called Hyperhidrosis is a symptom of a number of conditions, ranging from simple nervousness to a serious disease such as malaria.

#What is Excessive Sweating?

Sweating, or perspiring, is part of the body’s temperature control system. When the body is too hot, you begin to sweat. Evaporation of sweat from the skin’s surface causes cooling.

Thus, sweating is a normal and desirable function when the weather is hot, or when strenuous exercise, which produces body heat, is being performed.

Sweating also occurs when you feel anxious, afraid, or are under other emotional strain. Even eating hot, spicy foods can produce perspiration. In all of these circumstances, sweating is no cause for concern.

Occasionally, however, excessive sweating is caused by an underlying health problem.

Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating. The problem may involve the sweat glands all over the body, or just affect those under the arms, in the groin, or on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

#What Are The Causes Of Excessive Sweating?

Idiopathic Hyperhidrosis:

People with idiopathic hyperhidrosis tend to sweat most profusely under their arms. The cause of the condition is unknown, but it is nonetheless a fairly common problem among young people from puberty to their mid-30s.

Infectious Diseases

Various forms of infectious disease which cause a high fever may also bring about excessive sweating. For example, high fever and sweating, along with chills, headaches, muscle pain, weakness, and fatigue are all symptoms of influenza. Another example is malaria.

The classic symptoms are high fever and soaking sweats; alternating with chills. Other symptoms include a severe headache, vomiting, diarrhea, rapid pulse and rapid breathing.

Hypoglycaemia

An abnormally low blood sugar level may cause sweating, in addition to dizziness, irritability, trembling and palpitations. This condition most often occurs in diabetics who have taken too much medication, or as a reaction to the insulin surge induced by eating highly refined carbohydrate foods.

Menopause

Among the most common symptoms of menopause are hot flushes and profuse sweating. Frequently, a woman will waken during the night drenched in sweat. Menopausal women may also experience chills, headaches, depression and other symptoms.

Overactive Thyroid

An overactive thyroid produces excessive amounts of thyroid hormones, resulting in a speeding up of metabolic activity. Common symptoms include an enlarged thyroid gland, increased nervousness, emotional outbursts, excessive sweating, an inability to tolerate heat, weight loss, and hyperactivity.

Heart Attack

Sweating accompanied by severe chest pain may be a warning of a heart attack. The pain is typically intense and is often described as crushing. Other warning symptoms include shortness of breath, fainting, nausea, and vomiting.

Cancer

Episodes of sweating may accompany certain cancers. For example, waking at night drenched in sweat may indicate Hodgkin's disease if it is associated with other symptoms, including weight loss, swollen glands, weakness and general malaise. Prostate cancer can also cause excessive sweating.

HIV Infection

Profuse sweating, chills, fever and swollen lymph nodes are common early symptoms of HIV infection.

Cluster Headaches

This is a throbbing type of a headache with pain that radiates to either eye and to the nose, mouth or neck. They tend to occur one after another, in clusters — hence the name. Blood vessels on the affected side of the head may bulge out, the face is pale, and profuse sweating typically occurs.

Asthma

An asthma attack usually manifests itself with difficult breathing, accompanied by wheezing and coughing. There may also be profuse sweating.

Kidney stones

Kidney stones cause extreme intermittent pain in the kidney area that may radiate to the groin. They are also signaled by blood in the urine, chills, vomiting, and sweating.

#Excessive Sweating And Body Odor

Sweating and body odor are not synonymous. Fresh sweat has no odor whatsoever. Body odor only occurs when the sweat comes into contact with bacteria, which naturally live on skin surfaces; even then the onset of an ‘odor’ usually takes a few hours to build up.

The best method of controlling strong or unpleasant body odor is to wash thoroughly every day in order to keep the number of bacteria to a minimum. and to remove old deposits of sweat. Deodorants and antiperspirants are helpful in controlling body odor.

#Advise About Excessive Sweating

Drink plenty of liquids. during hot weather especially, in order to replace fluid lost through sweating.

A lukewarm shower or bath is actually more effective for cooling off than is a cold shower. IJ Avoid strenuous activity during the hottest hours of the day.

A person who is hot and has red dry skin, but is not sweating, may be suffering from heat stroke. This is an emergency situation and requires immediate medical treatment.